00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2004

Canadian deep house legend, Nick Holder, has been a regular on NRK since the very first releases, and 2004 was definately his "coming of age" on NRK Music. The previous year had seen his third album for NRK, "The Other Side" get a release, but it was in '04 that the killer spoken word/anti-DJ mantra, "No More Dating DJs" became of of Nick's most memorable tracks. More of a sultry R'n'B track that a deep house tune, "Dating Djs" featured the vocal of Gemini, and went on to show up in places we least expected. Radio 1's Trevor Nelson championed the track from out of nowhere, playing it on his hugely popular radio show for weeks, with Giles Peterson to follow suit. Remixes were swiftly organised from Mood II Swing's John Ciafone (for the house heads), Yam Who, and US hip-hop legend Pete Rock. "Dating DJs" went on to become a hugely popular track that year, and other remixes of Nick's album tracks came from the likes of Solid Groove, Harmonic 33, A Man Called Adam and Freaks, resulting in the remix album "The Other Mixes".



Dick "Magik" Johnson also followed up an album from the previous year ("Cardboard Journey") with singles "Follow The Groove" (also remixed by that man Solid Groove) and the "Kingsland Dubs 2" EP.



Miguel Migs also featured heavily on NRK in '04, releasing the smooth deep house "City Sounds" trilogy of EPs, and also compiled and mixed the last ever nite:life compilation (more of that in a bit).



Meanwhile David Alvarado produced a stunning mini album of deep, hypnotic, electronic tracks, heavy on the Basic Channel influence but also pre-dating the "minimal" explosion by a year or two. The "Transfiguration EP" was an underground gem.



NRK also collaborated with London party collective, Faith, and produced a mix CD and "fanzine booklet", taking things away for the same ole "mix CD" format and offering a reading companion to the Dj mix ably created by Terry Farley and Stuart Patterson.

2004 was also the year that we decided to put closure on the nite:life mix CD series. It was felt that we had taken it as far as we could, and wanted to end the series on a high, but not without another three stunning entries to the series from Tom Stephan (nite:life 018), Rulers Of the Deep (nite:life 019) and that man Miguel Migs (nite:life 020).

Meanwhile, Honchos Music continued to release the finest tracky/acid/tribal moments, with releases from D'Julz, Jamie Anderson, Dano, Noel Nanton, and the debut album from Bristol based sci-fi tech house bod A J Scent. His "B Good" album was perhaps a little ahead of its time, with heavy electro and synth based ideas, a sound that would come to prominence later in the decade.

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2002

2002 saw NRK continue to nuture the existing talent on the label, as well as reaching out to artists new on the label. Miguel Migs had another busy year for NRK, releasing the "Dubplate Sessions EP" and "Satisfied EP", on each one throwing down his trademark dub inspired house tracks. NRK continued to work albums from the previous year from Audio Soul Project (pictured) and Jamie Anderson, with key single releases.



The legendary Francois K enlisted studio partner Rob Rives to create his timeless mix of Audio Soul Project's "Community", a track that has since been sampled to death, but FK and Rives did the original justice with an epic mix. Also enlisted to remix the ASP "Community" album were artists such as Rob Mello, Tony Thomas, Joeski and Ricky Montanari & Davide Ruberto. A "Community Remixed" album was released in this year. Meanwhile, Jamie Anderson's "Blue Music" album was revisited with the "Rebel Sound" single, complete with remixes from The Beloved and Jeno. Ian Pooley was also busy in '02, unleashing a trilogy of 12" singles; "Missing You", Ready To Flow" and "The Fly Shuffle", all released on coloured clear vinyl!



NRK Music has always liked to 'keep it in the family' and certain artists were brought back to the label to keep a sense of continuity. The aforementioned Ricky Montanari & Davide Ruberto released the killer "Redzone EP", a huge Italian deep piano track, and Jeno cropped up again on the label via his now legendary "Stormy Weather Remix" of Rocket's "People".

Other big singles for NRK in 2002 included Q-Burns Abstract Message and their "Innocent" single, remixed by King Britt and Magik Johnson, Sandy Rivera & Jose Burgos produced a great tracky EP titled "Keep Flowing", and UK stalwart, Pete Heller, supplied some great remixes of Louie Balo's mystical "Guiding Light".

The nite:life series continued, again breaking down genre barriers, as we brought to the platters some great mix comps from Joeski & Onionz "Nu-York nite:life", the dark and druggy sounds of Peace Division's "nite:life 010", the solid tech-house sounds of Lexicon Avenue, and a great double mix CD by Danny Krivit, one of the Body & Soul crew and all round NYC legend. His "Expansions" mix was a masterclass in mixology, including cuts from 808 State, Pal Joey, Blaze, DJ Food, Dennis Ferrer and Kerri Chandler.



Our sister label, honchos Music, delivered its biggest record to date. "Piha" by ex-pat Dick "Magik" Johnson, and Germany's Ian Pooley, was picked up by Pete Tong who hammered it on his BBC Radio 1 show for five weeks on the trot. With a remix package from DJ Sneak and Jamie Anderson, "Piha" was released at the end of the Summer 2002, narrowly missing a Top 40 chart position, but certainlybecoming one of the most memorable house cuts of the year, with its blazing disco strings and funk driven beats. Honchos also released key singles from Noel Nanton (including the still huge Ian Pooley remix of "Your Love"), and A J Scent's "ahead of its time" vibes on "I Love Digital".

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2000

As we approach the end of the decade, the NRK Music blogspot hi-lights each of the years that made up the "noughties", a year that had it's ups and downs for the house music scene, but is certainly come out on top as we approach 2010. So here we go with the first installment...

2000

NRK Music surged into the new millennium with all cylinders’ firing, having already spent the late 1990’s making a big impact on the deep house scene. Already a label noted for bringing forward cutting edge trends in house music, via artists and releases from the likes of Dimitri From Paris, Francois K, Ian Pooley and Nick Holder, the year 2000 saw the label’s long standing relationship with a certain Mr. Miguel Migs, via a release called “Inner Excursions EP”, featuring the classic “Petalpushing” track.




Miguel Migs was already making a name for himself, via super deep and sophisticated releases for Naked Music and Yoshi Toshi. And the “Inner Excursions EP” marked out Miguel’s love of deep, tracky house music, a sound that was to become synonymous with NRK Music over the decade.



2000 also saw another relationship develop, this time with UK house stalwart Dave Lee AKA Joey Negro, who went on to record for NRK many times. He releases the superb “Your Wildest Dreams” 12” in this year, along with a robotically funky 2020 Vision remix (AKA Ralph Lawson and Carl Finlow) on a nice clear 12” vinyl pressing!



The decade also kicked off with one seriously major music trend, that of the reverberating, dub heavy house sounds of the West Coast crews. NRK Music was one of the first UK labels to pick up on these sounds, and in 2000 releases 12”s from Twisted Pair (AKA Dano & Joeski) “Horny Hustle”, Onionz & Master D’s “Celia’s Groove” and Dano’s “Drifting On Continents”. Perhaps the most successful artists emerging from that scene, H-Foundation (AKA Hipp-e & Halo Varga) supplied a killer remix of Plastic Avenger’s “El Bombata” whilst Halo went solo for a devastating remix of Sirus’ “An Eye For An Eye”, a track that was already huge with Danny Tenaglia that year.

It was decided to test the waters in this year with out first ever DJ mix compilation series (a format that the label still excels in to this day), and so “nite:life” was born. The scene’s most celebrated DJs, and the most cutting edge, underground sounds, our first three selectors did not disappoint. Jon Marsh, lead singer and producer of The Beloved, mixed up a great CD to kick start the series, whilst the aforementioned H-Foundation set the standards high with a genre defining double CD mix for “nite:life 02”. Miguel Migs nailed the sound of the Millenium with “nite:life 03”, a mix that has beome such a huge favourite with many fans.



Other notable releases for NRK this year include Nick Holder’s second album for the label “Underground Alternatives” and Sirus’ “On The Edge Of A Dream” featuring the singles “Big Ben” and “An Eye For An Eye”. The year 2000 also saw NRK’s sister label, Honchos Music, make its first steps with a more trackier/tribal sound, and it’s first two releases from Dirty Gringo and George T.